Daily Republican., 1887-06-22
DEATH ON THE RAIL,
An Accident ON tho r, W. q II. Rail-
road Caused by n Failure, of the All
Brake.

road Caused by Failure, of the AIR
Brake.
Shortly after O'Clock last evening o
telegram was received ut the F., w. Il
u. Railroad station stating that an acci.
dent had occurred ~ Havre de Grace,
end requesting that pbyaicians be sent
down at once. The Off ciAls i'm medi.
steiy telephoned TO several physicians
and stnt cabs to bring them TO the sta
tion, where O special train was made
mp to take them to the scene. Drs
Oals, Brown, Patterson and several
others were eoon at the station, and
were joined by DR. Draper, who had
just come up from Dover. In the
ant!me, word OF tho accident had
epread all over the city and the moet
exaggerated rumors vera circulated, one
OF which was that rome twenty were
killed and two bundred injured.
BY o'clock there v ae o large crowd
AZ the station, and by 8 O'Clock there
was perfect jam Of persons anxious to
learn the particulars, among them being
the wife Of the engineer of the south
bound train, who had heard that her
husband WAS killed, but which fortu'
nately proved to be untrue.
The particulars OF the accident, rs
learned from those who went to the
place. are as follows: The south. bound
express No. Al, which left this city at
8 10 5 yesterdsy afternoon, was run into
by train No. 66. known as the Congress
siOnal limited, near the tower OF the
south end OF the bridge which crosses
the Sutquehanna river at Havre de
Grace, the collision being caused by O
failure Of the air brakes on the north
bound train to work. The accident 90
CURED about 100 yards from the
bridge, where the track switches
offa,nto the bridge, forming az.
The south-baund express left the sta
tion at HAvre de Grace at 8. So p. M.
and had jest reached the switch wher
the Dortn bound limited express cam,
thundeiipg along, striking the baeeag,
car OF the south. bound train and CRASHED
into the parlor cars behind, overtuI mini
and completely denolishing two o
them. Tht south. bound train consisted
OF six cars, all OF which were well fillet
with passsn gers, and 1t seems almost
miracle that only one WAS killed. NJ
one on the nor.t.bound train VA
hurt except the fireman, George T
Gordon, who was slightly injured.
Alexander Gautrom OF Washington
WAS instantly killed. He was In tn,
rear Car, aud was crushed between tw,
seats, escaping steam from the engin,
sculdiIg him TO death.
| THE INJURED:
T. A. Bland, Of Washington. d. g.
head scaideo; A. Brice, New York
head and arm cut, badly injured; B. n
Baker, Bstimore, left leg broken; Rev
j. 7 Pit khan, Minneapolis, Minn,
shou!der-bl.de broken and arm frac
tured; j. M. Whorton, Baltimore, skull
frsctcred; j. IL. McCcrmicx, Brook ly n
n. Y, badly scslded; A. L. Wood
Camden, n. seriously hurt about th
head; Rev. Hobart Smith, Baltim ore
leg and hand badly cut; Robert Mile
bad his back spraiDed.
There was a uum bsr Of othe slight,
Injured, whoSs names could not be a.
| csriained, who left as loon as possible
| Az soon as the special from this cit
tended TO by the ply sicisns, and . trai
made up, which took q number of th
pAot en- gers to Baltimore
K N. Sargent, one OF the oldest an
mcst . If cent engineers on the road ha
charge Of the north. bound engine, Of
sisted by Fireman George T. Gordon
Sargent says that when about q mil
and half from the bridge he was run
ming at full spesd. He shut off steAn
and applied little cir, the brake
working excellenty. Ee released tn
brakes when the speed WAS slackene,
and oiled his valves. When about hal
mile from the bridge he again apple,
air, but the brakes refused to work. II
at once reversed the engine and put ol
full stean tJ Try and stop the train, bu
the acquired momentum carried tn
train along Ia spite Of his efforts. Look
ing ahead, he CAV the danger sign q
and began sounding an alarm whistle
hoping the approaching train, whiol
was then on the river, would stop o
back up. Tho engineer OF the latte
tyaln evidently did not appreciate tn
situation, as he crossed the bridge, owe
which there is but q single track, ant
was Just crossing over to = turn out t.
the regular south-bouud track, abou
200 feet from the bridge, when tn
/ Lorth-houud express struck IL.
Just before the train collided, tn,
engineer and fireman of the north
| bound train jumped of, and probabi!
saved their lives by so doing.
The scene im IN eiiately after the col
lision was hearlreuding, aud at FIRST
looked as though there had been
wholesale slaughter. Ole Of tho Pull
mAn oars OF the south boupd train va
knocked from the track and was lyin
UPSIDE Down, while another had an en-,
knocked out, and was on Its side along
side OF the track, TIE smoker had Oh
end knocked out, the side crushed In
and 10 . complete wreck. The remain
der OF the CARS were on the track.
| From the wrecked cars and debri
men ani women crawled out will
bruised bodies and linn bs, some Of then
with nearly all their clothes torn from
them. bu, with the exception of thos'
mentioned above. none were serlousl!
injured.
A ecking train followed the speciA
from this city, and In less than ,hrs'
| hours after the accident the traol
was cleared and trains running .!
usual. The passe ngers ON trains reach
ing the place before the track wsI
| cleared were transferred and expert
enced but little delay.
Mr. Mills wss brought to this city
ou special train that brought up tbt
Con gressionsl limltel's passengers. He
was assisted to cab by Charles Pusey
and the cond uctor. He was driven tc
his home, No. 906 Jefferson street, and
DR.. Bullock vas called in, and, after
an examination, s,id he thought there
WAS nothing an gerous In his condition
At late hour last night he was suffer
ing rsvere pair, but wss doing as wei
as could be expe ctsi. He was met o.
the station by his vile, In retponse to
telegram. He Is q travelling salesman
The Physicians from this city re
turned 81 10 o'olook, all the injured
who could te moved having BEEN sen
to their homes, while the otbcrs were
being cared for by physicians at Hsvr'
de Grace. The body of Gsptrom wa
taken in charge by tho coroner ol